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Meadows was born and brought up in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. His father was a long distance lorry driver and his mother worked in a fish and chip shop. His father discovered the body of child murder victim Susan Maxwell and was initially a suspect in the murder case, which led to Meadows being bullied and shunned by other children.[1] He attended Picknalls First School, Oldfields Hall Middle School and Thomas Alleyne's High School.[citation needed] At weekends, he sold produce at a market in Uttoxeter. His love of cinema was fostered by regular trips to the Elite Cinema.[citation needed]

Meadows left school shortly before reaching his GCSEs, and soon turned to petty crime. He moved to Nottingham when he was 20.[2] While living in the Sneinton area of Nottingham, he made roughly 30 short films with the friends he met there. He could not show these films to anyone because there were no film festivals in his area, so his friends started one in the local cinema which became popular within the city.[citation needed]

The majority of Meadows' films have been set in the Midlands area. They recall the kitchen sink realism of filmmakers such as Ken Loach and Mike Leigh. Much of the content of his films is semi-autobiographical and based on his experiences in Uttoxeter. Twenty Four Seven was inspired by his youth, both at a boxing club, and also playing in a local football club. Despite some huge losses, the club's coach never lost faith in them. A Room for Romeo Brass was also inspired by his youth. After Paul Fraser —
his best friend, neighbour and future writing partner[4] – had a bad accident and was bound to his bed for two years, Meadows instead hung around with some of the town's more undesirable characters. Dead Man's Shoes is based on the more unpleasant side of his youth in Uttoxeter. It was inspired by a close friend who had been bullied, developed a drug problem and then committed suicide. He said "I couldn't believe that, going back ten years later, he had been totally forgotten in the town – it was as if he had never existed. I was filled with anger against the people who had bullied and pushed the drugs on him, and with despair at what drugs had done to that small community".

Five of Meadows' films were shown at the 2007 Flourish Festival, held annually in Uttoxeter, to mark the release of This is England (a film set in 1983).

The film has since had a series of sequels adapted into television serials, the first being This is England 86 (set in 1986 aired on Channel 4 in September 2010).[6] A second series, This is England 88 (set in 1988) was aired in December 2011. A third and final series, This Is England '90 (set in 1990), was originally due to be broadcast in December 2012, but in July 2012, Shane Meadows announced that the production had been put on hold in order for him to complete his documentary about The Stone Roses,[7] and the actors were still waiting for confirmation as to when filming would start.[8] The series was finally broadcast in September 2015, and was met with critical acclaim.[9][10][11] Phil Harrison of The Guardian stated: "Shane Meadows has once again elicited some remarkable performances from his actors and the result is emotionally draining for everyone who has taken these characters to our hearts."[12] Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy also wrote that "...all things considered, this series - this saga - remains an astounding accomplishment from Meadows and co-writer Jack Thorne."[13]

In an interview for his 2019 series The Virtues, Meadows opened up about abuse he suffered as a nine-year old, and how the experience has undoubtedly influenced his work.[14]

Meadows is known for his frequent collaborations with various actors and film crew members. Though he writes and directs all his work, for many of his films the splits the writing credits with another party, with the two credited jointly as writers.

Paul Fraser [a childhood friend] has been Meadows' co-writer and contributor for all of his films except his This is England projects, Small Time and Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee on which Meadows worked with writers Jack Thorne and Paddy Considine (both of whom have gone on to successfully write and direct their own projects) or Meadows worked alone.

All of Meadows's films have been either edited or had cinematography by Tank Bullock or Shaun Fields. Both Bullock and Fields, however, are aliases to refer to Meadows himself, similar to the Coen brothers' use of the name "Roderick Jaynes" (Jaynes refers collectively to the two Coen brothers).